Chickens Just Wandered into My Yard.

[beans2]

I know in the context of “free range eggs” it just means access to outdoors, but 100% free range/roam would (or should?) imply there is no containment of the birds.. if there is another word for that, I can’t think of it.

Either way, wild doesn’t just mean “not contained.” It’s the opposite of domesticated. You certainly couldn’t approach a wild pheasant and pick it up, could you?

actually yes. i've known wild pheasants and partridges to learn that farmers bring grubs to the surface where they work and start following people about. theres a pheasant near us that'll hop onto the table in the garden and peer in the window to see humans.
it's still not a kept bird. it has to fly and avoid foxes etc.

 

[beans2]

Yes, I guess even pastured birds have fences, but if they can just fly over or go through I don’t think it counts. I dunno.

Everything is either domesticated or wild. If a domesticated animal gets loose and is living “the streets” (usually not very well) it is stray and still capable of rehabilitating. But if a (domesticated) stray animal starts multiplying and over a few generations becomes “street smart” and capable of fending for itself without humans, it is then feral. A feral animal usually can’t be rehabilitated to become a pet.
And then there’s the process of domesticating a wild animal over generations like they’re doing with foxes in Russia or whatever..

I know this is all nitpicking and i guess irrelevant to chickens, but it’s important terminology in dog and cat rescue so I was just informing haha.

it depends massively on the species and breed in question.
I've worked on all sorts of sheep, goat, pig and poultry farms and alot of 'domesticated' animals don't know they were domesticated.
equally lots of wild animals can be befriended.

all the words we humans put on degrees of tameness in animals are just that, words and no more.
Animals don't read or speak they just use whatever instincts they have.

in the scottish highlands, where i live, there are lots of feral goats which were originally someones livestock and simply returned to the mountains. i've also worked on a goat farm in northern norway where the animals live wild in the mountains in summer and come home twice a day for milking. they come home because humans are useful to them.

 

[Tesumph]

it depends massively on the species and breed in question.
I've worked on all sorts of sheep, goat, pig and poultry farms and alot of 'domesticated' animals don't know they were domesticated.
equally lots of wild animals can be befriended.

all the words we humans put on degrees of tameness in animals are just that, words and no more.
Animals don't read or speak they just use whatever instincts they have.

in the scottish highlands, where i live, there are lots of feral goats which were originally someones livestock and simply returned to the mountains. i've also worked on a goat farm in northern norway where the animals live wild in the mountains in summer and come home twice a day for milking. they come home because humans are useful to them.

I guess. I think it has more to do with breeding the intense fight or flight instincts out of wild animals, rather than how friendly we think they are with us. It is just labels and words, yes, but there’s something to be said for natural selection choosing animals with more tuned instincts rather than what we humans breed for.

Granted I can see how the line becomes blurred with a more thickheaded prey animal (cow, goat, chicken) rather than a predator (dog, cat, fox).

Sorry for getting off topic OP. If your coop is in sight of a publicly used road, I also think they were purposely dumped. Lucky you? Lol.

 

[kwhites634]

actually yes. i've known wild pheasants and partridges to learn that farmers bring grubs to the surface where they work and start following people about. theres a pheasant near us that'll hop onto the table in the garden and peer in the window to see humans.
it's still not a kept bird. it has to fly and avoid foxes etc.

We have several pairs of Cardinals that call our place home year around. For a couple years straight there was one male that would walk back & forth pecking at his reflection in the sliding door, After a bit he'd fly up onto a particular tree branch, where he'd sit for a couple minutes before flying down to resume pecking on the glass. He'd spend hours on end at it. I wonder if he's the same one that would perch on the outside mirror of my truck and crap down the side while he admired himself in the glass.

 

[beans2]

I guess. I think it has more to do with breeding the intense fight or flight instincts out of wild animals, rather than how friendly we think they are with us. It is just labels and words, yes, but there’s something to be said for natural selection choosing animals with more tuned instincts rather than what we humans breed for.

Granted I can see how the line becomes blurred with a more thickheaded prey animal (cow, goat, chicken) rather than a predator (dog, cat, fox).

Sorry for getting off topic OP. If your coop is in sight of a publicly used road, I also think they were purposely dumped. Lucky you? Lol.

flightiness in my experience is more down to the amount of neural crest cells the embryo has in an individual animal than intelligence. so its about adrenaline rather than brain function.
my dumbest chickens are also my flightiest.
adrenaline can help an animal survive predators but can also cause it to make stupid mistakes.

note of interest:
- city foxes produce less adrenaline and so are bolder.
- border collies vary widely in adrenaline production so some are very relaxed while others are very highly strung.
- the cows most of us are familiar with are low adrenaline animals but those bred in the alps are really wild and can be dangerous to humans because they're so jumpy.

 

[Tesumph]

flightiness in my experience is more down to the amount of neural crest cells the embryo has in an individual animal than intelligence. so its about adrenaline rather than brain function.
my dumbest chickens are also my flightiest.
adrenaline can help an animal survive predators but can also cause it to make stupid mistakes.

note of interest:
- city foxes produce less adrenaline and so are bolder.
- border collies vary widely in adrenaline production so some are very relaxed while others are very highly strung.
- the cows most of us are familiar with are low adrenaline animals but those bred in the alps are really wild and can be dangerous to humans because they're so jumpy.

Not really sure what that has to do with wild vs domesticated but you’re not wrong.

A city fox still has traits completely formed by natural selection outside of human control. A cow bred for the mountains is still just that— bred for the mountain, by humans.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Curious to find out what the OP discovered with their neighbors. Did you get in touch with any of them?
I tend to agree that since your coop is visible from the road, and the girls don't look banged up or weathered, that they were probably dumped. If nothing comes of speaking to your neighbors, I'd call them yours if you can keep them.

 

[PouleChick]

He's east coast Australia so guessing he's in bed now or just about!

 

[BirdGal]

Idea....Early morning when chickens wake up,make some sort of harness for one as so you can catch her,then turn her loose and see what direction she goes.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

He's east coast Australia so guessing he's in bed now or just about!

Agreed... I honestly just wanted to follow, and to bring it back around to what the OP was asking about.